bourgeois and proletarians

8/3/2019 Bourgeois and Proletarians

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Structure of PowerStructure of Power


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Bourgeois andBourgeois and

ProletariansProletariansThe history of all hitherto existing society is the

history of class struggles oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant

opposition to one another, carried on a fight thateach time ended, either in a revolutionaryreconstitution of society at large, or in thecommon ruin of the contending classes

In the earlier epochs of history, we find almosteverywhere a complicated arrangement of societyinto various orders, a manifold gradation of socialrank

the period of the bourgeoisie, however, has adistinct feature: it has simplified classantagonisms. Society as a whole is more andmore splitting up into two great classes directlyfacing each other Bourgeoisie and Proletariat


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Modern BourgeoisModern Bourgeois

The discovery of America, the East-Indian and Chinesemarkets, the colonization of America, trade with the colonies,the increase in the means of exchange and in commoditiesgave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulsenever before known, and thereby, to the revolutionaryelement in the tottering feudal society, a rapid development

The feudal system of industry, in which industrial production

was monopolized by closed unions, now no longer sufficedfor the growing wants of the new markets The manufacturing system took its place Thus division of labour between the different corporate

guilds vanished in the face of division of labour in each singleworkshop

The Markets kept growing the demand ever rising The place of manufacture was taken by the giant, Modern

Industry; the place of the industrial middle class by industrialmillionaires, the leaders of the whole industrial armies, themodern bourgeois

Modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course ofdevelopment, of a series of revolutions in the modes of

production and of exchange.


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The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand,has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllicrelations

In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious andpolitical illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless,direct, brutal exploitation

The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family itssentimental veil, and has reduced the family relationto a mere money relation

The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of theworld market given a cosmopolitan character toproduction and consumption in every country-no

indigenous industries he intellectual creations of individual nations become

common property-world literature It compels all nations, to become bourgeois

themselves. In one word, it creates a world after itsown image

It has agglomerated population, centralised themeans of production, and has concentrated property


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Free Market EconomyFree Market Economy

The feudal relations of property became no longercompatible with the already developed productiveforces

Into their place stepped free competition,accompanied by a social and political constitutionadapted in it, and the economic and political sway of

the bourgeois class Modern bourgeois society is no longer able to control

the economic system it has created For many a decade past the history of industry and

commerce is but the history of the revolt of modernproductive forces against modern conditions of

production, against the property relations that are theconditions for the existence of the bourgeois and ofits rule

How do the bourgeois get over the crisis? On the one hand by enforced destruction of a mass of

productive forces; on the other, by the conquest of

new markets, and by the more thorough exploitationof the old ones


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Development of theDevelopment of the

ProletariatsProletariats In proportion as the bourgeoisie, i.e., capital, is

developed, in the same proportion is the proletariat,the modern working class, developed a class oflaborers, who live only so long as they find work, andwho find work only so long as their labor increasescapital. These laborers, who must sell themselvespiecemeal, are a commodity, like every other articleof commerce, and are consequently exposed to allthe vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuationsof the market

Owing to the extensive use of machinery, and to thedivision of labour, the work of the proletarians haslost all individual character

Masses of labourers, crowded into the factory, areorganised like soldiers. As privates of the industrialarmy they are placed under the command of a perfecthierarchy of officers and sergeants

The proletariat goes through various stages ofdevelopment. With its birth begins its struggle with

the bourgeoisie. At first the contest is carried on byindividual labourers, then by the workpeople of a


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Clash of ClassesClash of Classes

The growing competition among the bourgeois, andthe resulting commercial crises, make the wages ofthe workers ever more fluctuating. The increasingimprovement of machinery, ever more rapidlydeveloping, makes their livelihood more and more

precarious; the collisions between individualworkmen and individual bourgeois take more andmore the character of collisions between two classes

workers begin to form combinations (Trades Unions)against the bourgeois

Now and then the workers are victorious, but only for

a timeThis organisation of the proletarians into a class, and,

consequently into a political party, is continuallybeing upset again by the competition between theworkers themselves. But it ever rises up again,stronger, firmer, mightier. It compels legislativerecognition of particular interests of the workers, by


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Of all the classes that stand face to face with thebourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is really arevolutionary class

the proletarian is without property; his relation tohis wife and children has no longer anything incommon with the bourgeois family relations

The proletarians cannot become masters of theproductive forces of society, except by abolishingtheir own previous mode of appropriation

the proletarian movement is the self-conscious,independent movement of the immense majority,

in the interest of the immense majorityThe struggle of the proletariat with the

bourgeoisie is at first a national struggle. Theproletariat of each country must, of course, first ofall settle matters with its own bourgeoisie

The Proletarians have to be ready for a revolution


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The Concept of NationalThe Concept of National

DevelopmentDevelopmentSince the 16th Century there has

been a debate how to augment thewealth of the kingdom and takesteps to maintain and enhancewealthAdam Smith in his Wealth of Nations

in 1776, attacked the notion that

government could best enhancetheir wealth by placing restrictionson foreign tradeThe tension between a protectionist

approach and free trade stance is


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Wilsonism Vs LeninismWilsonism Vs Leninism

Wilsonism was a clasical Liberal-everyone acts onrational self interest, everyone is eventuallyreasonable hence peaceful and reformist practice ispossible

He applied the theory of individual to the wholenation state

Self determination of nations Lenin pursued the same goal with a completely

different slogan He based his work on Marx theory of classless society Marxism-leninism was moving from its origion as a

theory of proletarians insurrection against thebourgeoisies to the new role of anti-imperialism

Both Wilsonism and Leninism thus emerged as rivalsalthough they did share the same theme of selfdetermination of nations

Both these doctrines favored what later came to becalled the decolonization


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Road to SelfRoad to Self

determinationdeterminationWilson preferred what was known as the

constitutional PathLeninist came to favor the revolutionary

approach- independence was taken

rather then givenThese differences should not be

exaggerated ,they both were not averseto each others ideas

The real debate was who was to lead thestruggle for self determination? Wilsionian saw the intelligentsia and

bourgeois leading the struggle

Lenin saw this struggle in the party/movement


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What of decolonizedWhat of decolonized

practice?practice?Some states considered themselves pro

western others considered themselves partof the progressive camp that includedUSSR

Also there were a few who were part of the

Non alignment movementThe reality was much different than what

the propaganda suggestedMost of the economies were either one

party government or they were undermilitary rule

Pro western states had more liberal foreignpolicies ang in the more progressivestates foreign investment was dealt withmuch more consciously


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AIDAID

Aid in form of both loans and grants Most of the 3rd world nations received aid from the

OECD Countries (organization for economic co-corporation and development)

This aid was there to fund so called developmentprojects

What was common with these nations was that factthat they wanted to catch up to the industrializednations by increasing wealth of the nations and bymodernization

Common feature Both were optimistic about this objective

Both agreed that this objective could be achieved by fullparticipation in the interstate system

Both Lenin wilsonian ideology of self determinationwas accepted as the operational program of thepolitical movement of the peripheral and semiperipheral zones of the world systems


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Success StorySuccess Story

USSR was the first test case for the validity of theworkability of the recommendationsThe post revolutionary state was formed with

federations of states and each state with itsautonomous power

Lenin launched the logo Communism equalssoviet with electricity he was putting forwardnational(economic) development as the primeobjective of this policy

The Soviet Union was very optimistic aboutcatching up with the United States

The greatest boast for USSR came in 1930s atthe time of world economic depression , there wasnot only no unemployment in USSR but there wasalso a program for rapid development

ibili i f i lP ibiliti f N ti l


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Possibilities of NationalPossibilities of National

Development GrowingDevelopment Growing

StrongerStrongerAfter 1945 the possibility of nationaldevelopment grew strongerRapid reconstruction of Western Europe

and Japan

3rd

world nations was also developingpartly through self help and partythrough the assistance of the moreadvanced developed nations

1970 was the official as the

development decadeDevelopment studies became the new

intellectual organizing themeModernization theory was brought

forward which was countered by theMarxist theorys- updating on Lenin-


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1945-19701945-1970

Conscious efforts to expand the means and levels ofproduction around the world GNP and GDP per capita become the principle

measuring toolThe amount of growth varied around the world but

the figures were upwards everywhere

This period was also a period of political triumphs fora large number of movements in the 3rd world

This suffered two shocks The worldwide revolution of 1968

The worldwide economic stagnation from 1970-1990,economic failure for almost all the peripheral and semiperipheral zones and the collapse of the so called socialiststates

Although states which did abandon the Socialistslogan for the free market as it also did not see anysignificant improvement in their standard of living inthe 1980s


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Revolution-1968Revolution-1968

The 2 main themes common toall the uprisings Protest against the US hegemony in

the World Systems

Protest against the inefficiency ofthe so called Old Leftmovements( social democracy in thewest, communism in the eastnational liberation in the south)

The significance of 1968 waswhether both Lenin-

Wilsonisanism had in fact


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Downturn in 1970-1980sDownturn in 1970-1980s

The world economic situationworsened OPEC oil prises rose in 1970sThe debt crisis of the 1980s

What happened to the worldsurplus funneled through the oilproducing countries? National development program for the

oil producing countries Heavy luxury consumption in oil

producing statesThe remaining money was put in US

and European Banks-given out to the

3rd world countries as aid


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Debt Crisis in 1980sDebt Crisis in 1980s

Economic difficulties for theperipheral and semi peripheralcountries

Discontent with the existing regimeThe hard financial face of the OECDThey had to face the harsh IMF

conditionalities


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Elegy and RequiemElegy and Requiem

The elegy is for the Leninist-Wilsonian ideal of selfdetermination of nations

Both Wilsonian - Leninist weredependent on each other

The process was in two steps-

first the decolonization then theeconomic development

Thus wilsonian ideology was

dependent on the Lenin ideology

bourgeois and proletarians

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